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SPC Statement on September 11th

After the Syracuse
area peace and social justice community got over the initial shock of the
events of 9/11/01, “Revenge Will Not Heal Our Grief” became a statement of both
our hopes and fears. How would this country respond to the grief of its people?
What would we learn? Would our grief make us more empathetic to the pain people
in other countries feel? Would it cause us to become more fearful and hateful?
How would the events be “spun,” what political agendas would be pushed? Where
would this country be ten years later?

The fears of the peace and social justice movements were
quickly realized. Instead of viewing the events of 9/11 as criminal acts, they
were viewed as acts of war. In the name of making us “safer,” the US government
embarked on a “War on Terror” which has curtailed civil liberties, created
endless war and made torture acceptable. Shortly after 9/11, the USA PATRIOT
Act was hastily passed, expanding the surveillance powers of the government to
an unprecedented degree. All Muslims and Arabs within the US’ borders
became potential enemies and received special scrutiny. Afghanistan was
quickly attacked, the first of the “endless wars.”

Immediately thereafter, Bush and company were eyeing Iraq, a country
having no connection with 9/11. In spite of massive opposition throughout the
world, the US military
invaded Iraq
in early 2003. Despite a partial withdrawal from Iraq, tens of thousands of US
soldiers and military contractors remain.

The US
has become an armed fortress, where racial profiling is conducted in the name
of national security, and people who come to this country looking for a better
life for themselves and their families are considered threats. In this tight
economy, communities welcome money available from the Department of Homeland
Security to beef up their security. In some states, anyone who “looks foreign”
can be stopped and asked for papers based on the color of their skin. Our
culture is becoming more and more militarized as we become more and more
fearful.

In the past ten years, our grief has caused grief for
millions of people around the world. Iraqis, Afghanis, Pakistanis (to name just
a few) have died, been injured, lost loved ones, become refugees or had their
communities decimated by our wars. In this country people have lost their jobs,
services and homes as a result of a government that puts more money into war
than into human needs. Members of the military, many of whom are just there
because it’s a job, are sent back to the battlefield again and again, and come home
wounded in body and spirit. Our children don’t know what it’s like to not be at
war. Immigrants, Muslims and Arabs are watched, feared and detained.

This has not gone without challenge. Hundreds of thousands
of people have tried to prevent the suffering or ease it, through protest,
service, campaigns, creating alternatives, education.

To remember those who died on 9/11/01 is not enough – we
must also remember the aftermath and continue to dedicate ourselves to ending
endless war and racism, and protecting our liberties and those of others.

The Syracuse Peace Council educates, agitates and organizes for a world where war, violence and exploitation in any form will no longer exist. We are community-based, autonomous and funded by the contributions of our supporters. See the full Statement of Purpose.